The Quartermass-Stensrud property has long been known by neighbors as the “big, white elephant” of the area, the Booths said.

“It was a large, white house with no landscaping, no personality,” said Newell Booth, the home’s current owner.

He and his wife, Gladene, wanted to change that reputation when they bought the home in 2000, with the intent of restoring it.

The couple stripped multiple layers of paint that had been slathered on over the years, replaced the bathroom fixtures and redid the maple floors downstairs and pine floors on the second floor.

They even bought a boom lift to help them reach higher parts of the 1907 home while stripping the outside paint.

It seems like the couple is particularly proud of the small personal touches, such as the planting of geraniums and daisies in the front lawn, and stenciling work that Gladene Booth did around the living room.

“I like the old things,” Newell Booth said. “I never think about it as preservation. It’s the old technology that I find fascinating ... and how clever people were.”

After Scalice and her husband, Fred Carson, persuaded the hesitant, former owner to sell the Mission Hills home, they started an aggressive remodel that involved the installation of several recycled and reclaimed items, including doors, a claw foot bathtub, a fireplace mantle and antique lighting.

The main house, roughly 2,250 square feet, has three bedrooms and two baths, and a guesthouse, where the couple lived while the repairs were made.

Her advice to folks who want to do what she did: Start slowly, make sure you do your research on the home’s history, and “don’t make mistakes that you can’t undo.”